Leo: We understand. We have no interest
in condemning you for mistakes made.
On the contrary, we are ashamed for thinking
of you as no more than a power for war.
For nearly repeating the mistakes of the
Great Magic War all over again...
Yura: We are grateful for your words.

LEO: Speak no further.
It is we who owe you an apology. We hungered for your power...
How close we came to reenacting the War of the Magi!!!
YURA: We must put this all behind us.

Lock and Celes approach each other.

{ﾛｯｸ}「これで俺達の役目も終わる。
本当の平和が訪れるかもしれないな。
{ｾﾘｽ}「もどりましょう、ベクタへ。

{Lock}: And now our duty is done.
Maybe true peace will come.
{Celes}: Let's go back to Vector.

{LOCKE}: I believe our job is finally over! I, for one, could use some peace and quiet...
{CELES}: Let's return to Vector.

{ﾛｯｸ}「{セリス}……

{Lock}: {Celes}...

{LOCKE}: {CELES}...

{ｾﾘｽ}「なにも言わないで。

{Celes}: Don't say a thing.

{CELES}: Please, not another word.

{ﾘﾙﾑ}「おあついね…
{ｽﾄﾗｺﾞｽ}「若さ、じゃのお。

{Relm}: Hubba hubba...
{Stragus}: Ah, such is youth.

{RELM}: I'm too hot, Grandpa.
{STRAGO}: Kids!!

More or less. Relm's definitely making a
smart-alecky comment.

The music starts to fade out. Celes and
especially Lock look awkward, while Stragos and Relm have a
good laugh, which Leo, Tina, and the soldiers join in on after a
moment. However, just when it's looking like everything is
wrapped up, an obnoxious laugh interrupts. "Kefka"
begins playing as the loon himself bursts onto the scene, followed
by several soldiers on mechs, who "accidentally"
knock him over on the way in.

ｹﾌｶ「ひょっ ひょっ ひょっ
ぼくちんの魔導アーマー隊の力を
見せてやるぞ！

Cefca: Hyo, hyo, hyo!
I'll show you the power of my
little old Sorcerous Armor squad!

KEFKA: Hee, hee...!
How 'bout a little Magitek mayhem!

Cefca repeatedly refers
to himself throughout this scene using ぼくちん
(boku-chin), which helps give
his remarks a mocking and childish tone.

He beckons forward a soldier, who starts
knocking people out indiscriminately. Leo somehow avoids
the havok, and rushes forward to confront Cefca.

ﾚｵ「ケフカ！ 何をする！
ｹﾌｶ「ヒヒヒ…皇帝の命令です。
幻獣達を魔石化して持ってこいとね。
見よ！幻獣を魔石化させる秘技を！！

Leo: Cefca! What are you doing!?
Cefca: Hee, hee, hee... emperor's orders.
Bring back the Genjuu as magicite.
Behold! A secret technique to magicitize them!!

LEO: Kefka! What ARE you doing?!
KEFKA: G'ha, ha, ha! Emperor's orders!
I'm to bring the Magicite remains of these Espers to his excellency! Behold! A Magicite mother lode!!

He fries Yura and gathers up the magicite
remains. Leo is aghast, but Cefca just laughs and repeats. The
last Genjuu present has the sense to (finally) make a run for it,
but to no avail.

ｹﾌｶ「つまらん！！

Cefca: How stupid!!

KEFKA: Idiots!

Cefca walks over to his escort.

ｹﾌｶ「おもしろくないから
こんな村なんて焼きはらっちゃいな！

Cefca: This village is no fun,
so burn it all to ashes!

KEFKA: I don't care for the appearance of this pitiful little hamlet...
So burn it!!

They start burning. Cefca laughs some
more.

ﾚｵ「ケフカ！ やめるんだ！

Leo: Cefca! Stop it!

LEO: Kefka! No!

ｹﾌｶ「うるさい！

Cefca: Shut up!

KEFKA: Shut up!

He signals a soldier forward to zap Leo.
Fade to black. Some time later, as Cefca continues to laugh,
General Leo regains consciousness. The others remain out
of commission, so it's up to him to deal with the
problem.

You can try attacking the soldiers or
leaving the village, but trying just results in an unwinnable battle
against the invincible Guardian.
Though apparently too afraid of Cefca to defy him openly,
the soldiers at least seem reluctant to attack Leo...

ｱｰﾏｰ兵「レオ将軍、おかくご！

Armored Soldier: General Leo, prepare yourself!

M.TEK TROOPER: General Leo, prepare yourself!

...and make no effort to prevent him from
retreating (Guardian's in-combat text is as in Vector).

Combat ensues, though with
"Battle Theme" as the music. Leo's equipment is
fixed, but he has some pretty good items. The Gold Armor
and Gold Helm are the best heavy armor currently available,
the Crystal Sword and especially the Aegis Shield are better,
and the Proof of Initiation is one of only two to appear in the
game, with a Giant's Bracer complementing it for an extra
damage bonus. In addition to an impressive attack that hits
four times, Leo also has a Shock command that inflicts powerful
unblockable magic damage on all enemies, even when
surrounded (refer to his character
entry for details).

Cefca has a number of spells available,
including Figa, but Leo has
a good change to dodge, and it should come as no surprise
after past encounters that Cefca falls without much of a fight.
Except... something doesn't seem quite right.

ケフカ
「さすがは、レオ……
私をこのような目にあわすとは……

Cefca:
That's Leo for you...
putting me through all this...

KEFKA:
Ah......Leo......always the
consummate soldier......

"The Empire "Gestahl""
plays as Leo looks around in confusion.

レオ
「どこだ…… ケフカ……
姿を見せろ！！

Leo:
Cefca... where are you...?
Show yourself!!

LEO:
Where are you, Kefka......
Show yourself!!

ケフカ
「ガストラ皇帝……
おいでください……
ムニャ ムニャ

Cefca:
Emperor Gastra...
Come here, please...
mumble mumble

KEFKA:
EMPEROR GESTAHL......
I need you here......

Gastra appears in a puff of smoke.

ガストラ皇帝
「レオよ……

Emperor Gastra:
Leo...

EMPEROR GESTAHL:
Leo......

レオ
「皇帝！

Leo:
Emperor!

LEO:
My liege!

ガストラ皇帝
「レオ。おまえまでだまして
すまなかった。
これも、魔石を手に入れるた
め。わしの真意、わかってく
れるであろうな

Emperor Gastra:
Leo. I apologize for having
deceived even you.
This, too, was to obtain magicite.
You do understand my motives,
don't you?

I'm sorry I deceived even
you, Leo. My purpose has been
to gather Magicite, and grow
powerful......
Please understand me......

レオ
「皇帝。が、しかし……

Leo:
Emperor. B-but...

LEO:
But, Emperor...!

ガストラ皇帝
「言うな、レオ。お前の気持ち
解からぬでもない

Emperor Gastra:
Don't say it, Leo. It is not as though
I do not understand your feelings.

GESTAHL:
Don't say anything.
I understand how you feel.

ケフカ
「ヒッヒッヒッ
皇帝のおっしゃる通り！
今は、魔石を集めるのが先決な
のだよ

Cefca:
Hee, hee, hee,
just like the emperor says!
First priority now is collecting
magicite.

KEFKA:
Uwee, hee, hee......
That's right!
What we have to do now is
to collect Magicite!

レオ
「皇帝、では、私はいったい……

Leo:
Then Emperor, what have I...?

LEO:
But my liege......what have I
been fighting for...?

ガストラ皇帝
「レオ、お前には、少し休んで
いてもらおう。
それも、ずーっと長ーくだ！
ヒッヒッヒッ

Emperor Gastra:
Leo, I would have you take
some time off.
A veeery loooong time!
Hee, hee, hee!

GESTAHL:
Leo, I'd like you to take a
nice, long snooze...!
Very long! Uwa, ha!

The emperor vanishes in another puff
of smoke, to be replaced by Cefca.

Cefca:
The me you beat...
that was an illusion of me!
And that spineless Emperor
Gastra was illusion too, of course!
How can you be a general if you
can't even tell the difference?
And you're always, always...

KEFKA:
So......you think you hit me?!
That was simply my shadow!
And how did you like my
Gestahl? I should've been on
the stage! Well, General......

He pounces.

「いつもいつも、いいこぶりや
がって！

Always, always, acting like such
a fucking goody two-shoes!

You're such a goody
two-shoes!

レオ
「ケ、ケフカ……
お前というやつは……

Leo:
C-Cefca...
you little piece of...

LEO:
Shut up, Kefka!
I oughtta......

ケフカ
「ヒッヒッヒ…
皇帝には、レオは本心で裏切っ
たと、報告しておくよ！

Cefca:
Hee, hee, hee...
I'll report to the emperor that
Leo betrayed him at heart!

KEFKA:
Oh! A threat...? You're such a
violent little brute!
I'll tell your "liege" I had to
exterminate a traitor...!

He pounces again, laughing,
and the screen turns red.

ケフカ
「死ね 死ね 死ねー！！

Cefca:
Die, die, DIE!!

KEFKA:
Hate......hate......HATE!!

Oh, that's not good. Leo's not moving,
and the others have yet to recover. The music stops, as
Cefca tosses Leo aside for extra rudeness points. Just then,
a smattering of strange noises and colorful screen flashes
interrupt, and the screen starts shaking.

Cefca does something fancy. Whatever it is,
it sacrifices the soldiers he brought with him, mechs and all.

ｹﾌｶ「さあ、幻獣達よ。
楽しませて下さいな。

Cefca: Now, O Genjuu.
Please do let me enjoy myself.

KEFKA: Now, little Espers...
Let's see whatcha got!

He starts tossing his magic death sparkle
into the air and gathering magicite, laughing at every pause.
More screen flashes and noises
interrupt.

ｹﾌｶ「ぼくちんと戦うつもり？
いいでしょう、お相手しましょう。

Cefca: You intend to fight little old me?
Very well, let's take you on.

KEFKA: Eh?!
You wanna take me on?
Fine. Here I am...

An Ifrit-like
Genjuu attacks Cefca,
casting Fire,
Fira, and even
Figa. However, Cefca
blocks or absorbs all of it.

Internally, he has absurbly high stats for
this battle: 80 strength, agility, stamina, magic power, and base
attack power, 180 defense and MDef, and 60 evade and MEvd.
On top of that, he's also using a Hero's Shield, which provides
the absorption and gives him a total of 239 MDef and 100
MEvd. This gives him about a 67% chance to dodge against
the 150 hit rate of these spells, reduces the damage to roughly
1/16 even on a hit, and turns that into healing anyway.

After that, Cefca seems to get bored,
though it doesn't stop him from laughing insanely.

ｹﾌｶ「たあいのない。
幻獣がこんなに弱い存在だとは。
こんなのと戦っても楽しくないし
さっさときりあげましょうか。

Cefca: Pathetic. Who'd have guessed
Genjuu were such weak creatures?
It's no fun fighting if you're like this,
so why don't we finish things off?

KEFKA: This is ridiculous!
I had no idea you were such wimps! Time to put a stop to all of this.

Another unknown shiny spell zaps the
rest of them.

ｹﾌｶ「ひょっ ひょっ ひょっ
魔石はこれでもうじゅうぶんですね。
あとは、封魔壁の奥にある最後の宝を
手に入れるだけです。

Cefca: Hyo, hyo, hyo!
This makes plenty of magicite now.
The only thing left is getting the final
treasure inside the Mystic Barricade.

KEFKA: Phew...
I think I have plenty of Magicite for the time being...
that is, until I make my way through your precious sealed gate!!

ｹﾌｶ「シンジラレナーイ！！！

Cefca: I can't BELIEVE it!!!

KEFKA: I don't believe this!

At least he decides to leave at this point
rather than killing anyone else, but that's still not good. Dozens of
Genjuu have died, and worse, been added to the Empire's magicite
collection. General Leo didn't survive either, but he deserves a
decent burial, so our would-be heroes give him at least that, in a
previously unreachable clearing on the east side of the village.
"Awakening" plays.

{ﾃｨﾅ}「レオ将軍……

{Tina}: General Leo...

{TERRA}: General Leo...

She places flowers on the grave.

{ﾃｨﾅ}「人はみな力が
欲しいのね…
私みたいになりたいのかしら…

{Tina}: Everyone wants power...
Do they want to be like me...?

{TERRA}: People only seem to want power. Do they really want to be like me?

{ﾃｨﾅ}「もっと…
あなたからいろんな事を教えて
もらいたかった……

{Tina}: I wanted...
wanted to have you teach me
about so many more things...

{TERRA}: I...I wanted to learn so much more from you...

Interceptor hobbles up to the group.
There's no sign of Shadow.

『どうした、インターセプター！
そのケガは！？

"What's wrong, Interceptor!?
Those wounds!?"

Interceptor!?
That's a nasty wound!

{ﾛｯｸ}「レオ将軍だけでなく
味方のはずの{シャドウ}
までも……
帝国め！

{Lock}: As if General Leo wasn't
enough, even {Shadow}, who
was supposed to be their ally...
Damn the Empire!

{LOCKE}: We not only lost Leo, but {SHADOW}, too...
Curse the Empire!

Lock treats Interceptor's wounds,
possibly using a spare bandana as a bandage.

That's right, he was thinking about
hitting on her, but ten is a little too young even for a shameless
womanizer like Edgar.

Incidentally, there's a small side event in
Thamasa, where "Under Martial Law" now plays,
after returning there once all the scenes are done.

One with painfully awkward translation,
though part of it is understandable given that one of the lines is
used as third-person in one case and second-person in the
other. I've compensated by avoiding a subject, which works
well enough in a conversation.

わしは、ガンホー。
サマサで一番のりょうし。

I'm Gungho,
the best hunter in Thamasa.

I am Gungho.
Warrior extraordinaire from the town of Thamasa.

久しぶりに帰ってきたら
村がボロボロになっとる。
いったい何がおこったんじゃ？

I'm back for the first time in ages
and the village is in shambles.
What on earth happened?

First time I've been back in a while, and the village looks trashed.
What on earth happened?

Without Stragus in the active party:

{ストラゴス}をなかまにしたらしいが
あいつはどうもこしぬけでな。

I hear you've added {Stragus} to your
number, but he's quite the coward.

I've got {STRAGO} on my side now, but what a monumental bag of hot air!

若いころは、伝説のモンスター
ヒドゥンを狩ろうとがんばっとったが
途中であきらめてしまいおって…

Strove to hunt the legendary
monster Hidden when younger,
but gave up partway through...

When you were younger you hunted Hidon, the legendary monster. But you quit before you found it...

{Stragus}: I, uh, didn't exactly give
up... mumble, mumble...
And besides, that monster's only
found on Eboshi Rock, and Eboshi
Rock sank into the ocean, and...
Gungho: Making excuses like that
is the trouble with you.

{STRAGO}: I didn't really quit!
It's just that, well, the monster lives only on Ebot's Rock, which has been submerged for some time.
GUNGHO: You never could give me an honest answer.

ｶﾞﾝﾎｰ「なさけないやつじゃ…

Gungho: How pathetic...

GUNGHO: What a buffoon!!

Largely irrelevant for now, but it's there.
A small bit of land, presumably Eboshi Rock, is visible north
of the village, but there's no room to land there.

The Airship Blackjack

The party assembles on deck.
"Terra" continues playing as the scene
begins.

{ｾｯﾂｧｰ}「帝国は封魔壁へ
向かったぞ。
何かの像を見つけたとか……
{ｽﾄﾗｺﾞｽ}「もしや！

{Setzer}: The Empire headed
for the Mystic Barricade.
Said they found some statues...?
{Stragus}: It couldn't be!

{SETZER}: The Empire's after the sealed gate! They're looking for some statues or something.
{STRAGO}: No!!!

Meanwhile, Gastra and Cefca are heading
into the Mystic Barricade. The music stops to be replaced by
wind noises.

{CELES}: What's wrong, {TERRA}?
{TERRA}: The island...
The world is groaning in pain...

The wind fades, and a great rumbling begins.
Evidently, Gastra has reached his objective. The camera pans
across the large island with the Mystic Barricade, then shows some
random townspeople in a grassy area. 3-02 "Catastrophe"
begins playing as the ground splits apart and one side rises,
dumping several people into the crack formed. A huge shadow
passes over Jidoor, even though it ought to be Alburg given the
locations of everything involved. The island rises high into the sky.
We see Gastra and Cefca gloating atop it, standing before three
large stone statues that have sparks of energy passing between
them.

ｶﾞｽﾄﾗ「ファファファ！
これが三闘神の力か！
この力、そして魔石の力！
世界は我がものじゃ！！！

Gastra: Fwa hwa hwa!
So this is the power of the Three Warring Gods!
This power, and the power of magicite!
The world is mine!!!

GESTAHL: Fuwa, ha, ha!
Now THIS is power!
This, and my Magicite...
now nothing can stop me!

{Stragus}: The beginning of sorcery...
the Three Warring Gods...
{Tina}: Those?
{Stragus}: The petrified three are said to
have sealed themselves by canceling
out their opposing powers.
{Stragus}: If the stone statues looked away
from each other, the balance would crumble,
and their power destroy the world...
{Tina}: What!?

{STRAGO}: The beginning of all magic...
{TERRA}: Those?
{STRAGO}: It is said that they somehow neutralized each other's power, then sealed themselves away...
{STRAGO}: If the 3 statues should ever be moved out of alignment, the resulting inbalance of power would...
...rearrange the face of our planet...
{TERRA}: What?!

Clearly, this must be stopped. In any case,
Vector is now abandoned (with no sign of what happened to the
rest of the Returners and Narshe guards), and Alburg is covered
in darkness as the Mystic Continent, as it comes to be called,
blocks out the sun in the area. Definitely not good.

Character lines revert to what they were
before the airship crashed. Those who weren't available then
have lines too, of course:

{ｾﾘｽ}「私は……
帝国の将軍だった。
だが、悪は悪。

{Celes}: I...
was an Imperial general.
But evil is evil.

{CELES}: I was one of the Empire's generals, but I still know evil when I see it.